In the past, designers of avionics systems have endeavored to provide systems with improved reliability and improved serviceability. One crucial element in such systems has been the use of spare component parts, including field replaceable spare circuit cards. These field replaceable circuit cards allow for repair of avionics equipment without extended downtimes which are often associated with sending an avionics LRU to a service center for repair. One common method of assisting in quick removal of circuit cards has been the use of pivoting cam extractors, which are attached to the circuit card and pivoted to create a camming action, causing motion of the circuit card away from a connector in the LRU.
While these pivoting camming extractors have many advantages, often including low cost and ease of manufacture, they also have significant drawbacks.
First of all, the pivoting camming extractors often result in extraction or insertion forces which have significant components in directions other than the desired direction of insertion or extraction.
Secondly, the insertion and extraction forces often approach or exceed the force limits of these cam extractors, especially with circuit cards having high pin counts and limited displacements. Consequently, there exists a need for improvement in systems and methods for inserting and extracting circuit cards.